The present invention relates generally to agricultural equipment and more specifically to a hose guide for use with an extendable multi-stage hitch assembly for linking an agricultural implement to a prime mover.
Various types of agricultural implements have been developed that can be linked via an implement tongue member to a tractor hitch or other type of prime mover to facilitate different tasks including, for example, seeding, fertilizing and tilling. Hereinafter, unless indicated otherwise, the background of the invention and the present invention will be described in the context of an exemplary planter implement assembly.
While there are many different factors that have to be considered when assessing the value of a planter assembly, one relatively important factor is how quickly the assembly can accomplish the task that the assembly has been designed to facilitate. One way to increase task speed has been to increase planter assembly width thereby reducing the number of passes required to perform the implement""s task for an entire field. Thus, for instance, doubling the width of the exemplary planter assembly generally reduces the time required to completely seed a field by half.
With the development of modern high-powered tractors and planter assemblies, many planter assemblies extend to operating field widths of 40 feet or more. Hereinafter when a planter assembly is extended into an operating configuration to accomplish a seeding task, the planter assembly will be said to be in an operating position and have an operating width.
Unfortunately, while expansive planter assembly operating widths are advantageous for quickly accomplishing tasks, such expansive widths cannot be tolerated during planter assembly transport and storage. With respect to transport, egresses to many fields are simply not large enough to accommodate transport of a 40 plus foot planter assembly into and out of the fields. In addition, often buildings and fences obstruct passageways and therefore will not allow transport. Moreover, many farm fields are separated by several miles and farmers have to use commercial roadways to transport their planter assemblies to and from fields. Essentially all commercial roadways are not designed to facilitate wide planter assembly transport.
Recognizing the need for expansive planter assembly operating widths and relatively narrow transport widths, the industry has developed some solutions that facilitate both transport and operating widths. To this end, one solution has been to provide piece-meal planter assemblies that can be disassembled into separate sections and stacked on a wheel supported carrier member or on a separate trailer for transport. Obviously this solution is disadvantageous as it requires excessive labor to assemble and disassemble the planter assemblies between transport and intended use and may also require additional equipment (e.g., an additional trailer).
Another solution has been to provide a folding planter assembly configuration. For instance, in a xe2x80x9cscissors typexe2x80x9d configuration, where a planter assembly chassis is supported by wheels, right and left implement bars are pivotally mounted to the chassis where each bar is moveable between an operating position extending laterally from the chassis and a transport position where the bar is forwardly swingable over the tongue member and supportable by the tongue member during transport. As another instance, xe2x80x9cpivotal-typexe2x80x9d configurations provide a single implement bar centrally mounted for pivotal movement on a wheel supported carrier platform where the single bar is pivotable about the mount so that half of the bar extends over the tongue member and is supportable thereby and the other half of the bar extends away from the tractor behind the chassis. In either of these scissors or pivotal configurations, the tongue member has to be long enough to accommodate half the implement bar length plus some clearance required to allow a tractor linked to the tongue member to turn left and right. Thus, for instance, where the planter assembly operating width is 40 feet, the tongue member generally has to be greater than 20 feet long.
While task speed is one important criteria with which to judge planter assembly value, one other important criteria is planter assembly effectiveness and efficiency. In agricultural endeavors, perhaps the most important measure of effectiveness is yield per acre. For this reason, when seeding a field, a farmer wants to seed every possible square foot of the field and thereafter, when maintaining (i.e., tilling, fertilizing, etc.) and harvesting a field, the farmer wants to avoid destroying the plants in the field. To maximize field seeding, farmers typically travel along optimal field paths. For instance, to ensure that seed is planted along the entire edge of a field, a farmer typically starts seeding the field by first traveling around the edge of the field with a seeding implement at least once and often two or more times along adjacent consecutively smaller paths prior to traveling in parallel rows through the field. These field edge paths are generally referred to in the industry as headland passes. By performing one or more headland passes about a field edge prior to performing parallel passes, the farmer provides a space for turning the tractor and implement around between parallel passes while still covering the entire space along the field edge.
While headland passes increase overall field coverage, whenever a tractor is driven over field sections that have already been seeded, the tractor and planter assembly wheels crush the seeds or growing plants that they pass over and therefore reduce overall field production (i.e., yield per acre). For this reason, as known in the industry, where possible, farmers routinely attempt to reduce the number of headland passes required in a field.
Unfortunately, the number of headland passes required to facilitate complete field coverage is related to the turning radius of a tractor and planter assembly combination and the combination turning radius is directly related to the length of the tongue member between the planter assembly and the tractor. Thus, for instance, where the tongue is six feet long the turning radius may require only one headland pass while a twenty foot long tongue may require two or more headland passes to facilitate complete coverage.
Recognizing that a short tongue during planter assembly operation reduces the number of required headland passes and therefore increases efficiency and that a long tongue is desirable to accommodate pivotal and scissors type implement configurations, some industry members have developed staged tongue members that expand to accommodate implement transport and retract to provide a minimal turning radius during implement operation. One of these solutions provides a single stage telescoping tongue member including a first tongue member mounted to a planter assembly chassis and a second tongue member that is telescopically received in the first tongue member. To facilitate expansion and retraction, a hydraulic cylinder is positioned within one of the first and second tongue members with a base member mounted to one of the tongue members and a rod secured to the other of the tongue members. With relatively large implements and tractors, the force required by the cylinder is relatively large. By placing the cylinder inside the tongue members, cylinder force is evenly distributed thereby reducing cylinder wear, reducing cylinder requirements and increasing the useful cylinder life cycle.
While better than non-telescoping tongue members, unfortunately, single stage members cannot telescope between optimal maximum and minimum lengths. For this reason, where single stage tongue members have been employed, either extended implement operating width has been minimized or extra headland passes have been used to accommodate a larger than optimum turning radius.
One other solution has been to provide a multi-stage tongue member that is able to telescope between optimal maximum and minimum lengths. Designing workable multi-stage tongue assemblies, however, has proven to be a difficult task. To this end, a separate cylinder is required for each stage in a multi-stage assembly. For instance, in a two stage assembly at least two cylinders are required. Unfortunately, in the case of a retracted multi-stage tongue assembly, the retracted assembly can only accommodate a single internally mounted cylinder (i.e., a cylinder mounted within the internal tongue assembly member). As indicated above, to balance cylinder load during operation and thereby minimize cylinder wear and increase useful cylinder lifecycle, the industry has opted to place tongue dedicated cylinders inside tongue member passageways and external tongue dedicated cylinders have not been considered a viable option.
One exemplary and seemingly workable multi-stage tongue assembly is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,956 which is entitled xe2x80x9cForwardly Folding Tool Barxe2x80x9d and which issued on May 19, 1992 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cthe ""956 patentxe2x80x9d). The implement configuration in the ""956 patent teaches a scissors-type implement having left and right bar members mounted to a wheel supported chassis for pivotal rotation between an extended operating position and a transport position over the tongue assembly. The tongue assembly is mounted to the chassis and extends toward a tractor including several (e.g., 5) telescoped tongue members including a distal tongue member 14 that actually links to a tractor hitch. To move the bar members between the operating and transport positions the ""956 patent teaches that first and second hydraulic cylinders are mounted between the chassis and a point spaced from the chassis on each of the right and left bar members, respectively. By extending cylinder rods, the bar members are driven into extended operating positions and when the rods are retracted the bar members are driven into transport positions.
The ""956 patent teaches that the tongue assembly can be extended and retracted while the bar members are driven between their operating and transport positions and by the first and second hydraulic cylinders by attaching braces between the bar members and the distal tongue member. More specifically, a first rigid brace is pivotally secured at one end about midway along the right bar member and so as to form an acute angle therewith and at an opposite end to the distal tongue member and a second rigid brace is pivotally secured at one end about midway along the left bar member so as to form an acute angle therewith and at an opposite end to the distal tongue member.
The ""956 patent teaches that when the cylinder rods are retracted so that the bar members are in the transport position, the tongue assembly is extended so that the distal end of the assembly clears the ends of the bar members. When the cylinder rods are extended, the bar members are driven toward their extended operating positions and the braces simultaneously pull the distal tongue member toward the chassis thereby causing the tongue assembly to retract. By reversing the rods so that the rods extend, the braces force the distal tongue member away from the chassis thereby causing the tongue assembly to extend. Thus, the ""956 patent configuration replaces the tongue dedicated rods with the first and second braces on opposite sides of the tongue assembly, the braces in effect operating as rods to extend and retract the tongue assembly and providing a balanced load to the distal tongue member during extension or retraction.
The ""956 solution, like other solutions, has several shortcomings. First, because the ""956 patent configuration cylinders are linked between the chassis and the bar members, in the case of some planting assemblies, the cylinders will get in the way of planting assembly components (e.g., seed metering devices, ground engaging coulters, etc.). Similarly, because of the locations of the braces (i.e., secured between central points of the braces and the distal tongue member), the braces also will obstruct use of certain planting assembly components.
Second, in order to simultaneously drive the bar members between the operating and transport positions and drive the distal tongue member between the retracted and extended positions, the cylinders have to be relatively large and therefore expensive. One way to reduce cylinder size is to modify the planter assembly configuration to increase the acute angles that the braces form with each of the bar members when the bar members are in the extended operating positions. This solution, however, leads to a third problem with the ""956 patent configuration. Specifically, to simultaneously provide a workable design including braces and accommodate larger acute angles that enable the use of smaller cylinders, the overall retracted tongue assembly length must be increased which is contrary to the primary purpose for which the assembly has been designed (i.e., to reduce tongue length during planter assembly operation and increase tongue length during planter assembly transportation).
One solution to the problems above is described in the related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/062,612 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cthe related referencexe2x80x9d) which is entitled xe2x80x9cPlanter Hitch Apparatusxe2x80x9d, which is commonly owned with the present invention and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The related reference recognizes that where separate hydraulic cylinders have been provided for each stage in a multi-stage tongue assembly, the cylinder loads are shared between the separate cylinders and therefore the overall load requirements on each stage cylinder are reduced appreciably. Where cylinder load is reduced the cylinder can be placed xe2x80x9coff-loadxe2x80x9d center without appreciably affecting load balance on the cylinder and therefore without appreciably reducing cylinder lifecycle.
Thus, it has been recognized that, in the case of a multi-stage tongue assembly that can accommodate only a single internally mounted cylinder, additional externally mounted cylinders can be provided for each of the additional stages. For instance, in the case of a two stage assembly, a first stage may be motivated via an internally mounted cylinder and a second stage may be motivated via an externally mounted cylinder. In this case, the external cylinder will only assume a fraction (e.g., 50%) of the overall load and therefore can be placed off-load center without appreciable effects and without a balancing cylinder on the other side of the tongue assembly.
According to one embodiment described in the related reference, a multi-stage tongue assembly includes a separate hydraulic cylinder for each stage where at least one of the cylinders is mounted externally of the tongue members (see FIGS. 1 and 7 generally). For instance, in the case of a two stage assembly including a first tongue member mounted to the underside of a carrier platform, a second tongue member telescopically received within the first member and a third tongue member telescopically received within the second member, one cylinder is mounted externally and the other cylinder may be mounted either internally or externally.
The related reference also teaches a hydraulic automated locking mechanism for locking the tongue members in extended and retracted positions. To this end, in the case of the two-stage tongue assembly described above, the locking mechanism includes two separate locking assemblies, a first assembly mounted to the distal end of a first tongue member and a second assembly mounted to the distal end of the second tongue member. Thus, in this case, hydraulic fluid has to be provided to each of the first and second locking assemblies.
In most cases planter assemblies (and agricultural implements generally) that are pulled by tractors or other types of prime movers do not come equipped with their own power plants. This is because most farmers employ many different implements and to provide a separate power plant for each implement would render the combined suite of implements far to costly for most farmers. Instead, tractors, the farmer""s primary mechanical tools, are typically constructed such that they have power capacities sufficient to both transport an attached implement as well as provide power to run the implement. For instance, in the case of the planter assembly described above and in greater detail below, a tractor linked to a planter hitch assembly would provide hydraulic fluid to any planter assembly cylinders required to rotate the implement between transport and functional positions, to raise and lower support wheels, to raise and lower an implement bar, to extend and retract the telescopic tongue assembly and to control the locking assemblies. In addition, the tractor would also provide electrical power to the hydraulic valves (e.g., solenoid valves), any blower mechanisms for seed delivery, to the row unit metering devices and to any other devices requiring electrical power (e.g., tail lights, sensors, etc.).
To provide power to a planter assembly, a tractor typically comes equipped with one or, in most cases, a plurality of power or power source ports that are positioned proximate a hitch receiving member and the planter assembly is equipped with one or more power receiving ports. Power cables are then provided to link associated ports (i.e., hydraulic to hydraulic, electrical to electrical, etc.) together. Generally the planter assembly pivots about the hitch receiving assembly with respect to the tractor and therefore the power cables are constructed to flex and accommodate a degree of pivoting consistent with a minimum tractor turning radius.
As in most assemblies including power cables, in the case of a planter assembly, the power cables have to be protected from damage. For instance, if the hydraulic hose providing fluid to the internal tongue member of a multi-stage tongue assembly is severed with the tongue in the retracted and functional position (see FIG. 1), the planter assembly cannot be rotated into the transport position (see FIG. 9) and hence the assembly cannot assume a suitable configuration for transport along most roadways.
Generally, one solution for protecting a power cable has been to mount the cable such that the cable""s relative juxtaposition with respect to the components that the cable is mounted to remains unchanged and such that the cable resides in a space devoid of other moving components. For instance, in the case of a hydraulic hose and a non-staged tongue assembly (i.e., a non-telescoping tongue member), the hose can be mounted directly to the external surface of the non-staged tongue member.
Unfortunately, in the case of a multi-staged tongue assembly power cable protection is a more difficult task. To this end, in the case of a multi-staged tongue assembly the length of the tongue assembly varies appreciably and therefore the relative juxtapositions of the power cables with respect to the tongue members likewise change. In fact, to accommodate the variable tongue assembly lengths, the effective lengths of the power cables have to be altered. For instance, assume that a multi-staged tongue has five foot and fifteen foot lengths when in its retracted and extended positions, respectively. In this case the effective lengths of the power cables would have to vary by ten feet.
In addition to the cables that provide power from the source ports to the receiving ports on a tractor-planter combination, in the case of a multi-stage tongue assembly, some embodiments require a variable length cable to provide power to various parts of the tongue assembly. To this end, again assuming a two-stage tongue assembly and first and second hydraulic locking assemblies mounted to the distal ends of the first and second tongue members, respectively, the position of the distal end of the second member relative to a hydraulic port on a carrier platform will vary depending on how far the second tongue member is extended from the first member. Thus, the effective length of the cable linked to the second locking assembly must be variable as well. Hereinafter cables that can provide variable effective lengths will generally be referred to as variable length cables.
One solution for providing a variable length cable has been to provide a spring loaded cable reel at one end of the cable that operates to take up cable slack as required effective length is reduced. While cable reels operate well in the case of vertically aligned members (e.g., the uprights on a fork lift), such reels have not proven effective in the case of horizontally aligned members such as a multi-staged tongue assembly for several reasons. First, spring loaded reels typically cannot take up enough slack to eliminate vertical cable sag. A sagging cable can become snagged on rocks or other items extending up from the ground below and therefore cannot be tolerated.
Second, planter assemblies (and other implement assemblies for that matter) often require ten or more power cables linking the source and receiving ports together and it is impractical to provide ten or more separate cable reels for this purpose.
Third, even if ten or more reels were provided for this purpose it is unclear exactly where so many reels could possibly be located on a typical planter assembly. For instance, in the case of the pivotal planter type assembly described above, reels generally cannot be mounted atop the carrier platform as the implement bar and corresponding components have to rotate through the space above the platform. In addition, there is very little space under the platform because the support wheels and often other components have to be mounted there. For instance, U.S. patent application No. 10/090,538 which is entitled xe2x80x9cPlanter with Centrally Mounted Coulter Apparatusxe2x80x9d which was filed on Mar. 4, 2002 and is commonly owned with the present invention, illustrates a centrally mounted coulter apparatus that has to be mounted below and in front of carrier platform support wheels in order to operate properly. This and other configurations leave very little space below the platform to accommodate reel assemblies.
Fourth, even two adjacent cable reels would likely be inoperable as adjacent cables could and would likely become entangled during planter operation. This problem would only be exacerbated where the number of cables is increased.
A problem similar to that of the power cable problem described above also exists with respect to providing hydraulic fluid to distal stages of a multistaged tongue assembly. For instance in the case of a two stage tongue assembly including a hydraulic locking assembly mounted to one of the telescoping tongue members, the distance between a supply port on a carrier frame and the locking assembly ports changes and hence the lengths of hoses to supply the ports likewise must change.
Therefore a need exists for an apparatus that can be used to provide a variable effective length power cable. In addition, it would be advantageous to provide a protected variable length multi-cable apparatus for use with a planter assembly.
It has been recognized that a receiving space can be defined for, as its label implies, receiving power cables when a variable length tongue assembly is retracted where the receiving space is limited to space that is not required for other planter assembly components. It has also been recognized that a sheath member and a guide member or assembly can also be provided that together restrict relative cable motion and other uncontrolled cable movement so that cable positions are always controlled.
Consistent with the above realizations, the present invention includes an apparatus for use with a carrier assembly including a wheel supported carrier member and a tongue assembly including a stationary member mounted to the carrier member and an extendable tongue member receivable within and extendable to a substantially fully extended position from the stationary member along a transport axis, a stationary port fixedly mounted with respect to the stationary member and a moveable port fixedly mounted to the extendable member such that the distance between the ports depends on the degree of extendable member extension, the apparatus for linking the ports and comprising a receiver assembly mounted to the carrier assembly and including at least a first wall member forming a substantially upwardly facing surface below a receiving space and adjacent a first of the stationary and moveable ports and a corresponding first of the stationary and extendable members, a flexible power cable having stationary and moveable cable ends secured to the stationary and moveable ports, respectively, with the tongue assembly in the fully extended position, the cable forming at least one curve having a convex surface that faces into the receiving space proximate a first of the cable ends and a guide member mounted to the tongue assembly and substantially restricting cable bending between the curve and a second of the cable ends.
In some embodiments the apparatus further includes a protective sheath member that forms a passageway having first and second ends proximate the stationary and moveable ports, respectively, and, wherein the cable is juxtaposed within the passageway. Here the sheath member may substantially restrict vertical bending of the cable. More specifically, the sheath member may include a plurality of chain link members that define the passageway where link members rotate about substantially vertical axis with respect to adjacent link members. Three adjacent vertical axis may be substantially in a single plane when a corresponding link member pair is aligned and, at least a first subset of link member pairs may include first and second link members where first member rotation with respect to the second member is restricted to one side of the single plane. In addition, at least a second subset of link member pairs may include first and second link members where the first member is free to rotate with respect to the second member to both sides of the single plane.
In one embodiment the stationary port and stationary member are the first port and first member, respectively.
The apparatus may include a deflector member mounted to the carrier assembly and forming a deflection surface having first and second ends proximate the stationary tongue member and the receiver member, respectively, the first end aligned with the transport axis and the deflection surface at least in part sloping toward the receiving space. Here the deflection surface may form a curve from the stationary tongue member to the second end of the deflection surface that is substantially perpendicular to the transport axis. The receiver assembly may further include a substantially vertical second wall member that extends up from the first wall member and extends from the second end of the deflection surface along the length of the receiving space where the receiving space is on the same side of the second wall member as the tongue assembly.
In some embodiments the extendable member extends in a transport direction, each of the first and second sheath member ends are open in the transport direction and the curve is convex in a direction opposite the transport direction. The carrier assembly may include a carrier platform having a front edge that faces substantially in the transport direction, the sheath member may be mounted below the carrier platform and the first end of the sheath member may be mounted below the front edge.
The invention also includes an apparatus for use with an agricultural assembly and for providing a variable length drawbar for a carrier assembly including a wheel supported carrier member, the apparatus comprising a tongue assembly including a stationary member mounted to the carrier member and an extendable tongue member receivable within and extendable to a substantially fully extended position from the stationary member along a transport axis, a stationary port fixedly mounted with respect to the stationary member and a moveable port fixedly mounted to the extendable member such that the distance between the ports depends on the degree of extendable member extension, a receiver assembly mounted to the carrier assembly and including at least a first wall member forming a substantially upwardly facing surface below a receiving space and adjacent the stationary port and the corresponding stationary member, a flexible power cable having stationary and moveable cable ends secured to the stationary and moveable ports, respectively, with the tongue assembly in the fully extended position, the cable forming at least one curve having a convex surface that faces into the receiving space proximate the stationary cable end and a guide member mounted to the tongue assembly and substantially restricting cable bending between the curve and a second of the cable ends.
The invention also includes a method for use with a carrier assembly including a flexible power cable, a wheel supported carrier member and a tongue assembly including a stationary member mounted to the carrier member and an extendable tongue member receivable within and extendable to a substantially fully extended position from the stationary member along a transport axis, a stationary port fixedly mounted with respect to the stationary member and a moveable port fixedly mounted to the extendable member such that the distance between the ports depends on the degree of extendable member extension, the cable linked at first and second ends to the stationary and moveable ports, respectively, a receiving space formed adjacent a first of the stationary and moveable ports and a corresponding first of the stationary and extendable members, the method for configuring the cable for storage when the tongue assembly is retracted, the method comprising the steps of, with the tongue assembly in an extended configuration, arranging the cable to form a curve that is convex into the receiving space proximate a first of the cable ends and substantially restricting cable bending between the curve and a second of the cable ends.
In one embodiment the step of restricting includes providing a sheath member that that forms a passageway and that restricts bending to within a single plane and positioning the cable within the passageway. More specifically the step of providing a sheath member may include providing a chain link assembly including chain links that rotate about axis that are substantially perpendicular to the transport axis. Moreover, the step of providing may include providing the assembly where at least some of the chain links are restricted to rotating to a single side of adjacent link members.